It's A Wonderful Tiny
Toons Christmas Special got a lot of promotion for
what it was on the surface--a Christmas episode of a
program that usually ran during the children's hour. Of
course, Tiny Toons wasn't your average children's
program. The Toonsters even landed that year's Christmas
TV Guide cover, which I wish I had right now so I could
display it here.

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This rip of It's A
Wonderful Life runs a lot closer to the target
parody than It's A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie
does. The opener is exactly the same as in the classic
film: various characters are overheard from their houses,
praying for Buster. Except for Plucky.

"Who cares if
Buster's gone? Not me!" *looks around with shifty
eyes*
*closes curtain once he's sure no one is around*
"OH PLEEEEASE TAKE CARE OF HIM, I BEG YOU!!
Otherwise Tiny Toons will be cancelled and I'll have to
work on some...CHIPMUNK show! BWAH-HAH-HAAAA..."

I ended up taking twice
as many screenshots of this special as I normally do. I
couldn't resist capturing as many hilarious StarToons
poses as possible.

From Plucky's house we
pan up to the stars and a Van Gogh painting, where a
booming voice tells a Jimmy Stewart impersonation that
Buster Bunny needs help.

Buster and Babs sing an
opening song while whooshing down a mountain on a sled;
as they sing they run into the Norelco Santa, Sam the
Burl Ives Snowman, and the Grinch. Buster sounds like he
has a bad cold; John Kassir has just replaced Charlie
Adler as his voice actor.

"Lovely, now the pages
are pink. What's next, the color purple?"
Plucky walks past Luke Perry, because this is
1992, and smacks him.

Of
course, they don't mention Luke by name, just
that he "stars in a show about zip
codes." All the celebrity appearances on
this special were impersonated and unauthorized,
hence weaselly legal maneuvers such as the
following:

"They say we share
and share alike, that means I borrow whatever Babs will
lend!"
"I share with you, you share with me, but that
doesn't mean I LOAN YOU MY BOYFRIEND!!"
Babs deliberately botches several skating moves to thrash
Cher all over the ice, which is what Max was hoping would
happen. But it isn't enough for him....
"Ha-ha-ha! Check these out: piranhas!"

"Well?? Is it my
turn now, or what? What are the pages now? Chartreuse?
Plaid?"
"Sigh....you're on, Little Drummer Duck!"

"I'm on?? I'M ON???
YES YES YES!! LOOK OUT WORLD!!!"

Someone who is listed in
the credits as "Parum-Pum Man" yet is obviously
supposed to be William Shatner: "Come. They.....told
the king. Parum....pa-um-pum, parum. Pa-pum. Pum."

KA-BLAAAAAAAM!

Plucky: "This show
is a disaster, and it's all your fault!"
Cher: "I gave up 'It's A Cosby Family Christmas' to
do this!"

As everyone rags on
Buster, Max commits the final portion of his plan:
bribing the executives.
"MONTANA MAX is now the official producer of the
TINY TOONS PRIME-TIME CHRISTMAS SPECIAL!!"

Buster sadly walks out
of the theater. "I'm sorry I let you down,
guys."

Back to the voice-overs.
Booming voice: "So, that's the story. Any
questions?"
Jimmy Stewart Impression: "Yeah, uhh, why's he not
wearing any pants?"
Booming voice: "Oh no, it's worse than I thought!
Buster's about to throw himself right out of the
picture!!"

Buster: "Goodbye,
cruel series."

At that moment, Jimmy
Stewart Bunny (no relation) falls from the sky and almost
falls out of the picture himself.
Buster: "What are you doing out here? You gotta be
more careful!"
Jimmy Stewart: "Well, how about you? What's eating
you up?"
Buster: "I've just made a mess of everything. I wish
I was never on Tiny Toons!"

"You just got your
wish! There's no Buster Bunny on Tiny Toons."
"What are you, crazy? Warner would never let me out
of their contract!"

Buster is hind-kicked
all the way to the steps of Acme Loo, where he rubs his
head and wearily remarks "I feel like I'm in a bad
episode of Quantum Leap."

Buster: "Hey, this
is Acme Looniversity! My alma mater! Surely somebody in
there will recognize me!"

Harvey: "...Is it
just me, or shouldn't he have caught on by now?"

Buster: "Montana
Max's BUSINESS LOONIVERSITY??"
He remains naive. "I'll go to my homeroom!"
Harvey: "It's not pretty in there no more..."

Shirley: "Like, how
can I make it big in Hollywood?"
Madonna, apparently the teacher: "Just wear your
underwear on the outside and Warner will give you a
multi-million dollar deal!"

Buster:
"EUUUHHHHHH.....
I don't get it! What's going on?"
Harvey: "Do I have to spell this out for you?"

"YOU WERE NEVER ON
TINY TOONS! YOU NEVER EXISTED, AND EVERYTHING IS
DIFFERENT NOW!!!"

Buster: "Oh. Well,
if I was never born, then what about...Babs? I mean, she
has Tiny Toons, but does she have...I mean, does she go
with..."
Harvey: "You wanna know...if she's replaced
ya?"
Buster: "Kinda..."
Harvey: "Find out for yourself. She's in the film
library."

Babs is indeed in the
film room, watching old cartoons filled with even more Wonderful
Life references: Porky literally lassos the moon for
Petunia, and Pepe le Pew sprays a perfume called
"ZuZu's Petals" on himself to attract a
reluctant striped cat.

Attempting to one-up
George Bailey, Buster goes as nuts as possible, and he
starts by giving Babs an innards-mangling hug.

"HAPPY HANNUKAH,
YOU WONDERFUL MOGUL, YOU!!"
"FELIZ NAVIDAD, YOU PERFECT PLANET, YOU!!"
After he's yelled at everything in the entire world, he
returns to the theater.

Max's rewrites are not
going well at all.

Plucky: "What dreck
is this? 'Away to the bank I flew in a flash, I opened a
C.D. and deposited cash!'"
Max: "I think it's good....don't you? Heh....heh
heh...." He looks up sheepishly at Fran and Edward.
Fran: "He is so lost."
Edward: "Yes he is."

Elmyra: "I DON'T
WANNA PLAY LEONA HELMSLEY!!"
I did not get this gag until Leona Helmsley died, and her
life story was spread around. Basically, Leona was as
close to Montana Max as any real-life person could be,
and if there was anyone Max would admire, it would have
to be her.

Babs returns with
Buster, and everyone cheers. Buster gets his old job back
immediately!

Babs: "That reminds
me, I'm still mad at you. What were you whispering to
that other woman about?"

Cher: "He wanted to
know what to get you for Christmas!"
Babs: "Oh......really? Oh.........What'd you
decide?"
Buster: "THIS!" He throws Babs back and lays a
big, loud, wet one on her lips.

Babs:
"Ohhhh...." She literally melts into a puddle.

Fran: "So....what'd
you get ME?"
Edward: "The best gift of all, dear! The gift of
charity."

Whoopi Goldberg before
she was God: "I'm just here for comic relief!"
Robin Williams randomly floats past in tights and a
harness, making the billionth swipe at Hook Tiny
Toons had done.

Buster: "Don't worry,
Max! You still have a part in our play! And guess
what....YOU'RE the STAR!!"

Max: "OOOH....THE STAR!!"

It's not the position he
was expecting, though.
The Tiny Toons sing their closing song, "No Toon Is
A Failure Who Has Friends."

Harvey: "Not
bad...FOR AMATEURS!"
He unzips his costume to reveal he was Bugs Bunny the
whole time, and he walks away chomping on a carrot.

Why didn't it fit in?
Because, while well-written, it's a companion to a series
that is no longer on the air. There's also the completely
unoriginal plot, which is even joked about in the special
itself. If you want to watch It's A Wonderful Life
again, then you'll probably watch that. There
are no Muppets or loud pratfalls in the Jimmy Stewart
classic, but perhaps that's part of its charm.